VW Group 2017 sales rose to 10.7M cars, beating Toyota, paper says

BERLIN -- Volkswagen Group's vehicle sales probably rose to around 10.7 million last year and kept the automaker ahead of Toyota as the world's largest automaker, a German paper reported, citing inhouse VW estimates.

The record delivery figures across the group, which includes premium brands Audi and Porsche, helped to increase revenue above 220 billion euros ($264.62 billion) after the 2016 record of 217 billion euros, the Bild am Sonntag also said on Sunday.

A VW spokesman declined comment on the report. VW is due to publish official 2017 group sales data on Jan. 17 and will release core financial results in late February.

In 2016, the first full year after VW's emissions test-cheating scandal, group sales rose 3.8 percent to a record 10.3 million cars, helped by a double-digit increase in China and gains in Europe.

Toyota said last month it expected to sell 10.35 million cars worldwide in 2017 across its Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino brands, up 2 percent from 2016, and 10.5 million this year.